{"id":13751,"date":"2022-07-24T00:00:15","date_gmt":"2022-07-23T23:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/turski.blog\/?p=13751"},"modified":"2022-07-24T00:00:15","modified_gmt":"2022-07-23T23:00:15","slug":"17th-sunday-in-ordinary-time-11","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/?p=13751","title":{"rendered":"17th Sunday in Ordinary Time"},"content":{"rendered":"

Having lost my car in an accident (not my fault since you asked) I was desperate to get a replacement. Don\u2019t be alarmed, the story happened nearly a quarter of a century ago. Short of money, my only option was to buy a second-hand car which was at that time rather risky. People running such businesses were infamous for flogging post-accident cars, patched-up enough to make a good first impression but turning quickly into a very costly endeavour for their new owners in maintenance and running costs. As I said, I was desperate to get a new car for my work, so I found one falling within my budget and meeting my rather modest needs. The salesman very keenly presented the car as the best deal in the world. Having almost made up my mind to buy it I requested a check-up of the car in question in my trusted mechanic\u2019s garage before the final decision was made. That was quickly arranged. The mechanic soon indicated that I shouldn\u2019t buy the car; only later on did I learn that the salesman had tried to persuade him to cover up the car\u2019s faults. In fact, according to the mechanic, it wasn\u2019t just faulty; it was dangerous to drive. The deal obviously collapsed; I was saved but left without a car. A couple of weeks later the mechanic told me about a reliable, well-maintained second-hand car that would suit my needs. Incidentally, it turned out that the need for a new car wasn\u2019t as urgent as I had thought.<\/span><\/p>\n

One of the most obvious practices in any religion is prayer. It\u2019s an essential part of virtually every religious faith as a way of communicating with the divine. Its form is shaped by the particularities and peculiarities of a specific faith. Our own, Christian example of that is the Lord\u2019s Prayer as presented in today\u2019s gospel. It\u2019s not rare that people treat specific prayers in a magical way. Some forms of performing prayers indicate that more clearly than others. By reciting specific prayers in a particular way or form, the prescribed number of times, we are guaranteed the expected outcome as if God has been forced to act and fulfil our wishes. Such a magical attitude seems to be supported by today\u2019s gospel. Firstly, Jesus gave his followers a specific prayer (the Our Father) and then instructed them to persevere in their attempts to get from God what they wanted: <\/span>\u201cAsk, and it will be given to you […] For the one who asks always receives.\u201d<\/span><\/i> Unanswered prayers are one of the most frequent causes of people\u2019s frustration. It might lead to dropping the practice; sometimes the frustration is so great that people completely give up on religion. Only God knows how many potential lottery winners have fallen out with Him for not providing the winning numbers\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

Prayer is one of the most commonly misunderstood religious practices, despite being the simplest and most effective form if practised the correct way. Admittedly, today\u2019s readings can give us the impression that prayer\u2019s purpose is to change God\u2019s mind, to bend His will to ours. In fact, it\u2019s the opposite. Jesus hinted at that in today\u2019s gospel: <\/span>\u201cWhat father among you would hand his son a stone when he asked for bread? Or hand him a snake instead of a fish? Or hand him a scorpion if he asked for an egg? If you then, who are evil, know how to give your children what is good, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!\u201d<\/span><\/i> We could reverse those obvious questions and ask what father would offer anything dangerous to his child even if asked. No responsible parent would give their child a hand grenade to play with even if the child insists on that and throws a tantrum. In today\u2019s gospel – as in many other passages – Jesus didn\u2019t promise that God would fulfil our each and every whim. In the Lord\u2019s Prayer Jesus listed what we should desire and then instructed us to persevere in asking for God\u2019s help to make it happen in our lives. Prayer is the way to bend my will to God\u2019s, based on the trust that He loves me and knows what\u2019s good for me.<\/span><\/p>\n

I think that\u2019s the reason we struggle with prayer. We live in a cultural climate where individualism paired with instant gratification is a way of life. What do I want? This or that. When do I want it? Now! Modern technology – although itself innocent – has made following and fulfilling our whims so much easier. The world and its pleasures are literally at our fingertips via computer screens or smartphones. Consequently, we don\u2019t take \u2018No\u2019 for an answer; when that happens, we get frustrated or angry. We are increasingly unhappy to have our choices questioned or denied. We look for affirmation rather than a critical view or comment. Our prayers are made in this fashion: we present our own plans to God and expect His unconditional seal of approval rather than looking for His opinion on the matter; in fact, sometimes we blatantly ignore it and follow through with our plans regardless. Funnily enough, when the consequences of our unquestioned, unchallenged decisions have turned sour or worse, everyone else – God included – is blamed for it.<\/span><\/p>\n

A woman approached the priest and complained that she had asked God to win the lottery.\u00a0 <\/span>\u2018I have prayed a hundred times\u2019<\/span><\/i> she said, <\/span>\u2018but God has never answered!\u2019<\/span><\/i> In response, the priest said: <\/span>\u2018I can assure you that God has answered every one of your prayers; He\u2019s done it a hundred times.\u2019<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\n

Image by Pexels<\/a> from Pixabay<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Having lost my car in an accident (not my fault since you asked) I was desperate to get a replacement. Don\u2019t be alarmed, the story happened nearly a quarter of a century ago. Short of money, my only option was to buy a second-hand car which was at that time rather risky. People running such businesses were infamous for flogging post-accident cars, patched-up enough to make a good first impression but turning quickly into a very costly endeavour for their new owners in maintenance and running costs. As I said, I was desperate to get a new car for my work, so I found one falling within my budget and meeting my rather modest needs. The salesman very keenly presented the car as the best deal in the world. Having almost made up my mind to buy it I requested a check-up of the car in question in my trusted mechanic\u2019s garage before the final decision was made. That was quickly arranged. The mechanic soon indicated that I shouldn\u2019t buy the car; only later on did I learn that the salesman had tried to persuade him to cover up the car\u2019s faults. In fact, according to the mechanic, it wasn\u2019t just faulty; it was dangerous to drive. The deal obviously collapsed; I was saved but left without a car. A couple of weeks later the mechanic told me about a reliable, well-maintained second-hand car that would suit my needs. Incidentally, it turned out that the need for a new car wasn\u2019t as urgent as I had thought.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13751","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermon","category-year-c"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13751","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13751"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13751\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13751"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13751"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tad.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13751"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}